The new face of police governance in Australia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12645970 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Benoît Dupont (0000-0001-9909-8594, Université de Montréal, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 78 |
| Pages | 15-24 |
| Publication date | 2003-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Australian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1444-3058 • E-ISSN: 1835-6419 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14443050309387867 |
| OpenAlex | W2060173408 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Over the past twenty years, Australian police services have been exposed to the scrutiny of royal commissions, which have uncovered a disturbing pattern of corruption and inefficiency. The media have also introduced the public to the most unpalatable aspects of police culture. At the same time, many liberal societies have experienced a political and social paradigm shift: the welfare state has become discredited as the preferred form of government and has been replaced by a more streamlined model, which has in turn fostered a new form of governance. The polymorphous concept of governance encompasses various meanings, which are all concerned with the capacity of the state to govern society. The effectiveness and efficiency of traditional forms of governance relying on hierarchical public structures have been questioned, and alternatives relying on market forces, policy networks and local communities are being advocated.1 In terms of process, this new governance is characterised by the adoption of managerialist reforms, which are characterised by a belief in the superiority of the market over the state, the introduction of competition between government departments and agencies, a simultaneous process of centralisation and decentralisation, and the fragmentation of public services providers.2 Because of public preoccupations with such issues as corruption and a tainted organisational culture, the implications of managerial reforms for police functions and the governance of law enforcement have largely been neglected. I will argue that, far from being trivial, these changes have far-reaching repercussions. They redefine how Australian communities are being policed, discarding the legal obligation to enforce the law and maintain the peace for the public good, and replacing it with a more pragmatic approach, which consists of managing the risks posed by the ‘dangerous classes’. This trend is reinforced by the politics of law and order that are being played in Australia by all parties during election campaigns. Before we can see how the new discourse of police managerialism has lead to substantial reforms in the fields of budget allocation, performance evaluation and contractualisation, it is essential to contextualise these changes at the international and national levels, and to highlight their political and social significance
Business · Centralisation · Corporate governance · Decentralization · Deregulation · Economics · Government (linguistics · Language change · Law and economics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Restructuring · Scrutiny · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Public Administration
| Citations per year | 0.26 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2007 - 2025 (19) |
| Highly cited | No |